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The Rune Dream: Loose Lips

Believe it or not, I not only have an excerpt for you, it’s also a completed scene.

Yes, I’m down to the coffee shop this morning, enjoying caffeinated beverages and getting ready for Bout Day–

Though no green wig–yet.

And while here I decided to write. It wasn’t a big deal, as I knew what I was going to say in the next scene after the kids woke up from their rune dream. I also had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be a long scene–and I was right. Clocking in at just over six hundred words, this is probably the shortest scene I’ve written for any of the novels, but while it’s short it sets up everything for the next scene, which is likely to be far longer: perhaps as long as the rune dream scene itself.

I’m nothing if not quick.

So, what happens to Annie and Kerry once they’re awake? Let’s find out.

(The following excerpts from The Foundation Chronicles, Book Three: C For Continuing, copyright 2016, 2017, 2018 by Cassidy Frazee)

“—Be off.” Kerry’s eyes snapped open as the last words escaped his lips. He lay still for a moment as he forced himself to awaken fully, clearing the slight grogginess he always felt when he came out of a deep dream. As the room was still pitch dark he crafted a small illumination point and set it to hover about a meter above him.

Once it was in place he rolled to his right. Annie was just waking and her unfocused eyes told him she’d fallen as just as deeply into the dream as he. Kerry didn’t find this surprising: as with almost all their other visions he was certain Annie has shared this one with him and when she finally turned an looked at him, his felt his certainty was confirmed. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” Annie lay on her side looking back at her soul mate. “And you?”

“Right as rain.” He slid as close to her as possible so he didn’t have to speak above a whisper. “Did you see everything I did, White Queen?”

She smiled the moment he used the code name mentioned in the rune dream. “I did—Red Queen.”

He signed. “Yeah, about that—”

“It’s something that happens in the future: don’t worry about it now.” Annie tilted her head back just a bit. “I wonder how everyone else is doing?”

Kerry spent a few seconds listening to the darkness. “I don’t hear anyone—they must all be asleep.”

“Let’s see.” Working with Kerry’s Illumination point, Annie moved it another meter into the air and brightened it enough that nearly half the room was now dimly visible.

What she was was completely unexpected: all the sleep positions were empty. “I don’t understand—”

“I don’t either.” Kerry moved up to his knees and threw another Illumination point into the air, making almost three-quarters of the room visible. It was more of the same: all the sleeping areas laid out at the beginning of class were empty. “It looks like everyone’s gone.”

“They are.” Deanna stepped out of a shadow near the back of the room and made her way towards her students. “Most of them were already out of their rune dreams and awake before you—” A small smile appeared, framing Deann’s bright white teeth. “Entered yours.”

Annie knelt next to Kerry. “Why are they gone, then?”

“Because you began speaking in your sleep as you both sometimes do. And—” Deanna stopped a couple of meters from the couple. “You were saying things.”

Kerry glanced at Annie before asking the question. “Things?”

“Yes.” There was another protracted pause while Deanna found her words. “While I wasn’t sure that what you were saying shouldn’t be heard by the others, I didn’t want to take any chances. I ordered all those awake from the room and made the rest leave as soon as came out of their dreams.”

There was silence in the classroom for nearly five seconds before Annie addressed the seer. “How would you know that the things we were saying shouldn’t be heard by the other students?”

“Because I gave her a list.” From near where Annie and Kerry knew the classroom door was located Helena calmly strolled into the dim light. “She asked last year for some key words to listen for that might be related to—well, some of the things you may do in the future.” The sorceress stopped a few meters from Deanna as everyone looked in her direction. “Apparently you said one or more of them.”

Deanna nodded. “They did.”

“I see. As that’s the case—” Helena motioned both children to stand. “We need to talk.”